Patricide in Mizoram

ZODIN SANGA

Aizawl, June 12: A man killed his 83-year-old ailing father in Mizoram’s Champhai district last night by smashing his head and cutting his throat with a saw. Locals said he appeared to be mentally troubled.

Police said Laltluangkima, 35, also known as Mangmanga, lived with his father, sister, brother-in-law and their three kids in his father’s house at Khawzawl Vengthar in east Mizoram.

Around 11.45pm when his father, Lianhenga, with whom he was sharing a bed, was sleeping, Mangmanga attacked him with sharp objects, including a saw.

Police sources said preliminary investigations suggested that the man killed his father by smashing his head against the wooden frame of their bed and then tortured his body.

There were multiple injuries on the body and the throat was apparently cut with a saw.

Mangmanga’s brother-in-law was away when the incident took place. When he started attacking his father, his sister and two of the kids fled leaving a four-year-old girl on the bed, sources in the village said.

“After killing his father, the man went looking for his sister and her kids but did not find them. He fortunately failed to notice the girl who was hiding under a blanket,” a neighbour said over phone.

Sources said the four-year-old girl also heard the sound of a saw cutting the throat of her grandfather.

The police are yet to recover the murder weapon. All Mangmanga told the police was that they would “never find it”, the sources said.

The accused, holding a knife, also threatened to kill his neighbours who immediately ran to their houses. However, they soon managed to overpower him, tied him up and handed him over to Khawzawl police.

“Till this morning, when I visited him in the police lock-up, Mangmanga appeared not to be himself. He looked mentally troubled,” a local leader of Young Mizo Association told The Telegraph over phone.

He said Mangmanga was a heavy drinker but did not have a history of violence. Quoting family sources, he said the accused had not drunk for the three-four days and was taking good care of his ailing father and even slept with him on the same bed.